How to Earn American Airlines Loyalty Points
In October, American Airlines announced major changes to its loyalty program AAdvantage. Those changes include new ways to earn and keep elite status and a brand new currency called Loyalty Points to track your progress.
American revealed how many Loyalty Points you would need for each tier:
- Gold – 30,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum 75,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro – 125,000 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum – 200,000 Loyalty Points
AAdvantage members can also double dip as any qualifying activity earned in January and February will count towards both 2022 and 2023 status. In the future, members will qualify for status from March through February, with status valid through March 31 of the following year.
The revamped AAdvantage program allows members to have most earned miles count toward elite status with the airline. While more spending is required, it also means that you can earn status without flying.
Earning American Airlines Loyalty Points
Now American has also shared all the ways you can earn these valuable Loyalty Points, and start working towards your elite status.
- Flying American Airlines: Earning elite status by flying is still an option under the new program, but it’s just harder to do so. You will continue to earn 5 award miles per dollar as a basic member, Gold members earn 7, Platinum 8, Platinum Pro 9, and Executive Platinum members earn 11 award miles or 11 Loyalty Points per dollar spent.
- Flying Partner Airlines: You can earn Loyalty Points when flying all oneworld airlines plus JetBlue and Gol.
- Credit Card Spend: Use American Airlines credit cards to earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent. However, signup bonuses, spending offers and category multiplier bonuses don’t count. This is probably the best option to earn points for those who can easily get a lot of spending done.
- Shopping Portals: Earn Loyalty Points when shopping through the American AAdvantage shopping portal or SimplyMiles. Shopping portal bonuses that require a spending threshold do not count.
- AAdvantage Dining: Every mile earned through AAdvantage Dining is equal to 1 Loyalty Point.
- Partner Hotels: Earn Loyalty Points through American’s hotels portal, as well as stays at Hyatt, Marriott, IHG and Wyndham.
- Car Rentals: Earn Loyalty Points car rentals booked through the American Airlines portal. You also earn points for Avis, Budget, Payless, Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, Alamo, National, and Sixt bookings credited to AAdvantage.
- Cruises and Vacation Packages: Every mile earned through through American’s cruise booking site and American Airlines Vacations bookings is equal to 1 Loyalty Point.
Conclusion
With the revamped American Airlines program that launched on January 1, 2022, it’s harder to earn elite status by flying. But you can now earn status through credit card spend and many other activities such as shopping portals, hotel stays, card rentals and more.
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On the surface, the “rule” on shopping portal shows some promise since it doesn’t refer to a base of 1 loyalty point per dollar spent. There are many merchants with as much as 30X$ earnings offers, and commonly 10X, 20X, etc. I’ve started my first test buys to see what posts. Even at 1X and MS, that can be generate a lot of loyalty points.
“Shopping Portals: Earn Loyalty Points when shopping through the American AAdvantage shopping portal or SimplyMiles. Shopping portal bonuses that require a spending threshold do not count.”